They possess two of the storied programs in college football, combining for 1,553victories, 18 national championships, 14 Heisman Trophy winners, 85 bowl-game appearances and 69 league titles.

They play in historic home stadiums in front of massive sellout crowds, and they have played hallowed roles in the autumn athletic scene for more than a century.

When you think of college football, USC and Ohio State are right there with Notre Dame and Michigan in national recognition.

So as the schools get ready for their compelling nonconference match Saturday at the Coliseum, there is much history to recall. I think of several memorable Jan. 1 meetings between the Buckeyes and Trojans a long time ago when I was a young sportswriter doing Rose Bowl sidebar stories for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner.

The first one came in 1969, and the top-ranked, 10-0 Buckeyes of Coach Woody Hayes were underdogs against the second-ranked, 9-0-1 Trojans of John McKay and O.J. Simpson in front of 102,063 fans.

It seemed as though the Trojans were destined to win their second consecutive national championship when Simpson broke one 80 yards to give his team a 10-0 lead late in the second quarter.

But this would be an afternoon when the disciplined Buckeyes wouldn’t make a mistake, and the Trojans would self-

destruct, committing five turnovers to gift the Buckeyes a 27-17 win.

Simpson wound up with a 171 yards in 28 carries, but a sophomore Buckeyes quarterback named Rex Kern (9-for-15 for 101 yards and 2TDs) and powerful fullback Jim Otis (101 yards on 30 carries) provided enough offense to have the volatile Hayes smiling broadly afterward.

It would be different when the teams met again in Pasadena in 1973. A lot different, as McKay’s mightiest team – it finished the regular season with an 11-0 mark and outscored opponents by a 425-117 margin – erupted for 35 second-half points on the way to a 42-17 win in which fullback Sam Cunningham set a Rose Bowl record with four touchdowns.

Mike Rae (18-for-25 for 225yards and 1 TD), Anthony Davis (157 yards on 23 carries) and Lynn Swann (six receptions for 108 yards and 1 TD) all made vital contributions for the Trojans. Archie Griffin, a freshman running back who would go on to win two Heisman Trophies, wound up rushing for 95 yards in 15 tries for the Buckeyes.

My assignment was a dandy one that afternoon: Write a piece on Woody Hayes’ reaction.

To put it mildly, Hayes was livid, not accustomed to seeing his Buckeyes bullied around a gridiron as they were by the Trojans. I remember him being curt, even rude in his responses, and cutting the news conference off prematurely.

But a year later, Hayes would get his revenge against the Trojans, as the Buckeyes, led by Griffin and fullback Pete Johnson, rushed for 323 yards in a 42-21 victory witnessed by 105,267.

Ol’ Woody that time was considerably more civil, even had moments of charm in reflecting on a score that was tied at halftime at 14 before the Bucks erupted for 28points in the final two quarters.

The Trojans and Buckeyes would meet yet again on New Year’s Day of 1975 in what would be McKay’s final Rose Bowl game – a year later he would depart for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – and this one was one of the most thrilling ever seen at the old stadium at the Arroyo Seco.

The Buckeyes held a 17-10 edge late in the fourth quarter when the Trojans took over on their own 17-yard line. Pat Haden methodically marched USC down field, to the roar of the 106,721 spectators, completing passes to favorite receiver J.K. McKay, the coach’s son, and to tight end Jim O’Bradovich.

Finally, with a mere 2:03 remaining, Haden hooked up with McKay on a 38-yard score that drew the Trojans to within one of the Buckeyes.

John McKay detested ties, and college football didn’t have overtime in those days.

A little context here: In USC’s 1967 Rose Bowl game against Purdue, McKay found himself in a similar position, as his team scored late to draw within a point of the Boilermakers at 14-13.

In 1967, McKay could have sent in his kicker for the tying extra point, but he went for the two-point conversation, and when it failed the Trojans wound up losing by that point.

Well, in 1975, John McKay once again chose to keep his kicker on the sidelines and go for the victory.

But this time he wasn’t disappointed.

Pat Haden threw a strike to Shelton Diggs in the end zone for the two-point conversion – and the Trojans held on to 18-17 win.

Woody Hayes didn’t attempt to punch anyone afterwards, as he did back in 1959 when he threw a fist at an Examiner sportswriter named Al Bine – it missed – in the wake of a 17-0 loss. But the notoriously tempestuous fellow wasn’t exactly in a charitable mood, as I recall.

Current Ohio State coach Jim Tressel doesn’t cuss people out or try to rough them up as Hayes often did when the Buckeyes were beaten. Not that the Buckeyes have been beaten often during Tressel’s eight-year incumbency in Columbus, in which he’s 75-16.

In fact, before Pete Carroll’s weekly Tuesday news conference, USC sports information director Tim Tessalone interviewed Tressel on the phone and Tressel sounded as though he were the sports information director of USC with his glowing appraisal of the Trojans.

Carroll later would be similarly complimentary of Ohio State.

But while Carroll and Tressel are different in styles and manner from McKay and Hayes, the football teams they coach are similar in that they still rank among the elite of their sport, the foremost reason that Saturday’s matchup is college’s football’s marquee attraction this weekend.